4 dead in Namibia Business family dies in plane crash
A small group of German tourists wanted to visit Namibia's famous red sand dunes. The trip ended fatally for them.
12.05.2026, 09:33
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- According to the airline Desert Air, all four passengers died in the crash of a Cessna 210 in Namibia.
- The fatalities include the former managing director of the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, her husband and their son.
- The plane disappeared on its way to a lodge near Sossusvlei and the wreckage was only discovered the next morning.
According to the airline Desert Air, all four passengers died in the crash of a small propeller plane in Namibia. "There was a pilot and three German nationals on board the aircraft," it said in a statement. Unfortunately, there were no survivors. According to the Federal Foreign Office, the pilot was also German.
The victims include Silke Lohmiller, the long-standing managing director of the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, as well as her husband Richard and their son. They came from the Heilbronn region. According to the foundation, Lohmiller worked for the Schwarz Group, which includes Lidl and Kaufland, for more than four decades.
The tourists had flown from the international airport in the capital Windhoek in a Cessna 210 on Sunday. The small plane was supposed to land about an hour later on the private airstrip of a lodge in the Sossusvlei area, but never reached its destination. The wreckage was found on Monday morning. Namibian authorities have launched an official investigation into the cause of the accident, it added.
Sossusvlei is one of the best-known tourist destinations in the southwest African country, famous for its red sand dunes, which are among the highest in the world.
